One thing I miss in GC2 that was possible in some other games, is the chance to have set piece battles.

For example, give each of two parties X research points and Y BCs.  They can research whatever they want, then submit their ship or fleet for battle, which then gets run 10 times.  The closest I can come to that in GC2 is ship-on-ship.  To do that I have to get a game to a stalled full-tech victory, create two ships, give one ship to an AI, then attack it.

I might be able to do that with a fleet.  Say, give the ships to a minor and the planet around which they orbit.  Make sure the planet has the fleet defense improvement (where the orbiteers defend as a fleet).  Then attack it with my own fleet.

Rinse and replay as necesary to get good data.  However, the AI does not always cooperate, sometimes the ships do not stay together at the planet, etc. 

If it were easier, I'd like to experiment with mixes of tiny hull one-shots, cargo gunboats, medium mobs, and 10-point dreadnoughts.

Has much of that been done?   Is there an easier way?